Tales of the Blade: The Shadows 'Arc'
by Lixie Lorn
Summary: Newest arc i've written, this one begins with Alicia Sonai as she infiltrates a Cipher base. Good luck to her, i say. Rated T for gore and language, same as others.
1. Tales 9: The Shadows 1: Trouble

Hiya people

_Sorry for those who were looking forward to Beginnings. Here we have a new arc. The Shadows. This, unlike most of mine, is based around the Sonai. (Yes, I'm using someone other than the Lorns! Kind of.)_

Disclaimer-I still do not own pokemon. I hope you didn't expect anything else.

Summary of previous Chapter-First episode of the arc. About Alicia and Jonathon Sonai, of the Orre family.

Tales of the Blade Chapter 9-The Shadows 1-Trouble

The darkness. Silent. To some, forbidding, evil, the hideout of dark creatures, and equally nasty people. To others, a refuge, a hideout from the horror of the world. To the family Sonai, it was a training ground, as well as the best battlefield they could ever hope for during a fight.

Alicia Sonai had heard that Cipher was operating again. They had done terrible things, simply terrible things. They had stolen pokemon from their trainers and friends and removed their emotions and their memories, turning them into living weapons.

It could not be allowed to happen again.

Silently, she ran through the shadows, one hand on the sword on her back. She heard a noise, and froze instantly. It could just be a normal person, and a friendly, if quick, greeting. But it could equally be a cipher agent and a fight the death.

The figure passed, and Alicia continued. The supposed cipher base was outside the town, quite a way.

It took Alicia a couple of minutes to reach it.

There was a derelict sign, from when Cipher had masqueraded as an honest organisation.

_Warning: Property of the Cipher Foundation  
__Trespassers will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law_

More like executed, thought Alicia. She ran past it, deep into the 'abandoned' building.

After a few hallways, she came across a door. This one looked like all the others; destroyed. But it wasn't. Alicia scraped at it, revealing new, undamaged, clean metal underneath.

She drew her sword, and whispered, closing her eyes.

"Silent Blade."

The sword glowed with a strange black light, and she swung it into the door. It cut through with a terrific smash.

A silent smash. No noise came from the enhanced metal of the sword, nor the hard steel of the door, not even when pieces hit the ground.

On the other side was shining metal corridors, restored, and obviously in use.

Fortunately, no cameras. They wouldn't know that was here.

Alicia ran inwards, as fast as she could, hoping she would not encounter anyone. That would be harder to do silently.

It was a vain hope.

A soldier, carrying a couple of pokeballs and a rifle, appeared. He saw her, and exclaimed with surprise, aiming the gun quickly.

Alicia glowed for a second, and a Lucario, eyes burning took her place and moved forward at an incredible speed, cutting the rifle in half with the double bladed sword she had drawn in an instant.

The soldier's eyes widened. He fumbled with a pokeball with one hand, calling command with the other.

"Intruder! Female, dark hair, very dangerous and-"

He had no time to say more. His head was no longer attached to his body. Alicia was human again, arm extended, body low, head down, the sword almost exactly where his head had been. She looked up.

"_Shit." _thought Alicia. She ran forwards, faster than normal, no longer needing to be so quiet.

She heard approaching troops, and ducked behind a pillar. They started to walk past, but they stopped.

Her breath quickened slightly. She knew they couldn't find her. She was silent and near invisible like this. It had never failed.

But there was always a first time.

Not this time. They passed.

And then they stopped.

One of them was holding up a hand, eyes glowing slightly. He shouted suddenly, pointing directly at her. The soldiers all pointed their weapons at her.

They fired.

Turning into a Lucario, Alicia span, using Force Palm to knock the bullets out of the air, counter to destroy them and Mirror Coat to throw them back at the soldiers.

She was unhurt by the storm of fire.

The psychic put up a powerful energy shield, and started to talk down his comm. link.

"Admin, the intruder is a female changeling or possibly morph of some kind, known form Lucario. Carrying a hand and a half sword with dagger end like the family of Sonai traditionally do. Is wearing black clothes, including shimmering cloak that seems to confuse the mind and bewilder the senses. I barely saw her. Looks to be between nineteen and twenty five, Black hair, tall, very, very fast and skilled."

Alicia had cut down almost half the patrol. they weren't just grunts either, but veterans, and most had released pokemon to help her.

There were ten veterans each with five pokemon, as well as the psychic when they found her.

Now there was the psychic, four veterans and maybe eighteen pokemon fighting her.

"By the looks of her abilities, appearance and fighting style, I believe she may be Alicia Sonai, sister of the Sonai heir. Request backup, repeat, backup required. I'm going to attempt to fight her."  
"Acknowledged. We're despatching elites as we speak. Good luck, Peon Jones."  
"Thank you, command." the psychic disengaged his comm., drawing a knife and a pistol from his belt, and throwing out three pokeballs. A Gallade, a Scyther and an Arcanine appeared.

They attacked.

Jones was skilled, very skilled, but alone he would have been dead in seconds. No minor school of fighting could defeat a Blademaster in fair, one-on-one combat. But this wasn't one-on-one, and it certainly wasn't fair.

Alicia was fighting a decent warrior, blocking a knife, dodging pistol rounds and also fighting off the blades of the Gallade and Scyther, the claws of the Arcanine, and volleys of fire from the soldiers and their pokemon.

Even she was having trouble.

She cut through the Scyther's guard, cutting a deep gash across its armour, putting it out of the fight, though not dead. She jumped over the psychic into the soldiers, killing one and jumping out of the way of the crossfire.

The soldiers counterattack killed another by accident.

Alicia was really enjoying herself. A good fight was hard to find. But she had things to do.

"Demon Shroud." she said. Her skin went black, her head sprouting horns, her back wings and a tail. The light seemed to fade until it was pitch black. Only the living things were visible, as if lit by some grey flame.

And a shockwave of fear spread across the corridor.

Jones hadn't noticed, but a constant emotional wave was coming from her. He had subconsciously knocked it out, but this was far stronger. He could barely keep fighting.

Behind him, a veteran went mad, shooting indiscriminately at her, and then killing himself.

She dodged every round. Many of the attacking pokemon didn't.

There was only a psychic and his two pokemon, a veteran, and maybe seven other pokemon left.

"Stop!" shouted Jones, a wave of psychic power striking Alicia. Her demonic form vanished, along with the unnatural darkness.

A voice and a wave of light slashed through the corridor.

"Well said." said the new peon, a Zapdos glowing with black aura next to him, sparking, a chain of black lightning between her and it.

Alicia was literally rooted. A thunder wave so powerful and fast she could neither dodge nor escape. She had a problem.

"Hmm…" said the peon, walking forwards, casually bringing a sword out from his belt. He looked at Alicia. "Yes."

He put the blade to her neck.  
"Zapdos, you can stop now."

The electricity drained away, and Alicia could move again. She tried to spin away.

The sword was there. The peon was there, the same arrogant smirk on his face.  
"Come on, surely you can do better than that."  
Alicia grit her teeth. This guy was really annoying.

She concentrated as hard as she could, and in a split second turned into a Lucario and used the most powerful Force Palm she could straight into his stomach. He went spiralling into a wall.

"Ooh, very nice. Yes, I think you'll do very well." said the peon, from behind her.

The illusion melted away into the floor.

Another jolt of black lightning struck her. She cried out from the pain, changing back into a human.

Sword still to her neck, the peon smiled.  
"Swordsmaster, check, changeling, check. Strange though, what's with the weird black irises?" he asked.

She said nothing.

"No matter. You'll do."

Quickly, he withdrew the sword and span away, grabbing a pokeball.

He threw it at her.

It bounced off. Alicia smiled again.  
"That won't work. All changelings have learnt a simple way round that."  
"Yes, but no-one has a way round this." replied the peon, taking a small, orange device and fitting it to his wrist, and placing a master ball in it. He pressed a button, a flash of orange light surrounding the ball, and he threw it.

Halfway to her, it opened, a claw of orange light coming out and grabbing her, dragging her in.

A snag machine.

And then there was only darkness.

_Well? How's that for the start of a fic? Or chapter, at least. I hope you like it, 'cause I do._


	2. Tales 13: The Shadows 2: Blades

_Finally, the second chapter of the Shadows Arc. Enjoy!_

Tales of the Blade Chapter 13-The Shadows 2-Blades in the Night

Inside a large mansion there was silence.

"Where the HELL is Alicia?!"

Well, there was…

A girl came storming into the largest room, followed by another girl, a man and a Gallade.

She was about seventeen, with long black hair and dangerously glittering eyes of very dark brown. There was a large sword on her back, the pommel stone actually another blade, like a small dagger.

She turned to face the people following her.  
"Well? For fucks sake, how hard is it?" Where the fuck is Alicia?"

The other girl walked forward a little. She looked very similar to the other girl, brown eyed, but with long hair in a white ponytail down to her back. She was younger, maybe fifteen or sixteen.  
"Alexa, stop shouting. James already says that he doesn't know."  
"I know that genius. Where was she last? Come on Larissa, it's not fucking difficult."

"She was attacking Cipher." said the man, James, quietly. "We think they have a new base, and I asked her to check it out. That was a week ago."

"Well then, we should do something! Idiot…" said the first girl, Alexa.  
"There aren't enough people to do anything. There aren't many of us." pointed out Larissa, the other girl.  
"Then I'll do it." said Alexa, storming out of the room again, the Gallade following her.

Larissa sighed.  
"I'd better help. She'll get killed on her own."

She left as well.

The man groaned.  
Those two were so hard to deal with…

* * *

"Alexa, wait up." called Larissa, running after her.  
"Do you know where Alicia was going?" asked Alexa immediately.  
"Umm… I think she was checking the old base outside of Phenac. Quite small, that's why it took us so long to realise." explained Larissa.  
"Right, it should take us about a day to travel there." said Alexa, thinking.  
"Ooh! We'll use my Ray!" said Larissa, suddenly excited.  
"…it's not that urgent…" said Alexa weakly.  
"Yes it is." said Larissa, practically dancing back into the side of the building, and then driving out in a sleek, green machine, styled to look much like a Rayquaza.  
"…fuck…" said Alexa. "I hate that thing."

Larissa jumped out and pulled Alexa over, and then into the side seat.

The Gallade followed them, sitting in the back of the machine.  
The engine roared, and it took off into the air.

Alexa was murmuring something to herself about a 'happy place'.

* * *

"Well, we're here. Shame, I was enjoying that." said Larissa.  
As they landed, Alexa jumped out of the craft and hugged the ground.

Larissa left the vehicle sadly, almost caressing it's prow, and the Gallade, who had not yet spoken, followed her.

"Well… now we're here, we should go in. Right?" said Alexa, trying to put the flight behind her.  
"Alexa, we can't do that. We should check how many people there are and sneak in and-"

Alexa was charging down the hill.

Larissa groaned, and turned to the Gallade.  
"Does she listen to anyone, Kire?"

The Gallade started.  
"No. But why would you ask me? No-one ever listens to me…"

Larissa groaned again.  
"Great. I have my sister who can't be bothered to wait five seconds, and a depressed Gallade with no self-esteem. Wonderful."

She ran down after Alexa, and the Gallade, Kire, followed her.

* * *

"Could you not have waited ten seconds for them to walk past?" asked Larissa, slashing her sword through the neck of a Cipher grunt.  
"No, where the fuck is the fun in that?" said Alexa, laughing, cutting through a pair of them with one swipe.

Within seconds the two of them, plus Kire, cut through an entire patrol.

A quiet clapping noise came from behind them.

They turned, seeing a man, dressed in the uniform of a Cipher Peon. He had blue eyes, and close cut black hair. He took a pokeball calmly from his belt, opening it. Out of it came a Zapdos, the legendary bird of lightning, glowing with shadow energy. It screamed at them.

A bolt of black lightning fired from the Zapdos towards the three of them.

It stopped in front of Alexa, a green glow appearing in front of her hands.

"Fuck, you're stupid." said Alexa, glowing, her form changing slightly. Within seconds, her form was mixed with that of a Lugia.  
"Fool, you'd fight a Sonai?" she said.

The peon laughed.  
"I already defeated one."

The Zapdos shot past her at as incredible speed, picking up Kire the Gallade in it's claws, routing electricity to him, making him scream. The Zapdos picked him up, carrying him next to the Peon and throwing him to the ground.

The peon drew a sword from his back, holding it against Kire's neck. He tossed a pokeball at Alexa's feet.

"You get inside there, or this Pokemon joins the ranks of the shadows."

As he said it, a bolt of lightning paralysed Larissa.

"Fuck you all." growled Alexa.  
Then she gave an apologetic look to Larissa, and kicked the pokeball, vanishing inside it.

The POeon laughed, capturing Kire with another pokeball.  
"Zapdos, throw that one outside." he said, pointing at Larissa.

She was dropped outsaide of the building, the doors shut behind her.

She cried.

* * *

_Sad…_


End file.
